At 3 a.m. on Feb. 15, Vladislav Manger, chairperson of the Kherson Oblast Council and a suspect in the murder of Ukrainian activist Kateryna Gandziuk, was arrested in the courtroom.
Judge Oleksandr Kipcharsky of Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court announced the ruling on the fourth day of the hearing.
Gandziuk, a whistleblowing Kherson municipal official who worked as an adviser to the city’s mayor, died in hospital on Nov. 4, three months after an attacker poured acid on her as she was leaving her apartment building in the southern Ukrainian city.
Her death became a painful reminder of the authorities’ unwillingness to investigate attacks against activists fighting corruption in the country.
Manger is alleged to be the organizer of the killing, which many believe was retaliation for Gandziuk’s efforts to expose illegal logging in the oblast.
The court ruled to arrest Manger until March 3, but allowed him to post bail. Prosecutor requested that the judge not allow bail, as Manger may own a house in Vienna where he could flee and he could use his time on bail to destroy evidence of his involvement in the murder.
Manger quickly made use of the judge’s decision. A deposit of Hr 2.5 million (or roughly $93,000) has already been posted, according to Dmytro Ilchenko, Manger’s lawyer.
“Deposit paid. We are waiting for release,” wrote Ilchenko on his Facebook page.
Several hours before the bail was paid, Ilchenko had said that his client did not have that much money and that they would need to solicit funds from friends and supporters.
However, Manger’s wife appears to have significant financial resources — three apartments in Kherson, a 270-square-meter home near Kyiv, two grain trading companies, and a construction firm, according to his tax declaration, the Kyiv Post previously reported.
The scope of Manger’s alleged involvement became clearer on Feb. 7, when investigative journalists from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty revealed several shocking facts about the plot to kill Gandziuk.
In July, a week before the attack, Manger’s lawyer leased a large recreational complex on Kherson Oblast’s seaside to Oleksiy Levin, later a key suspect in Gandziuk’s murder, for less than $20 a month for seven years ahead. However, Manger denied knowing about the agreement.
